Mayors with exceptional courage, compassion and competencesought for the 2016World Mayor Prize
The 2016 World Mayor Prize and Commendations will be awarded to mayors who have accepted and successfully managed the challenges posed by migration but are also convinced of its longterm benefits. They will be leading a city where past and/or more recent immigrants have contributed to the city’s society, economy and culture. The City Mayors Foundation will also consider mayors for the honours whose communities has shown exceptional resilience during the recent arrivals from disaster-torn regions of the world.

If you are convinced, like us, that the world’s cities have greatly benefited from immigrants, whose perseverance in the face of hardship and often prejudice has created the civic societies that we value and enjoy today, we invite you to nominate a mayor for the 2016 World Mayor Prize.

At a time when there are some 60 million refugees worldwide, mayors to be considered for the World Mayor honours will need to have shown exceptional compassion, courage and competence. Compassion for people who have travelled great distances to find safety. Courage to fight prejudice even in the face of unpopularity. Competence to leverage the value and potential each person offers society.

By taking part in this year’s World Mayor Project you are also voicing your support for all those cities that have had to bear the brunt of the recent influx of migrants and refugees.

Previous winners and runners-up include the mayors of Calgary, Ghent, Bilbao, Perth, Mexico City, Oklahoma City, Cape Town, Zurich, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Athens, Mississauga and Tirana. The World Mayor Project aims to show what outstanding mayors can achieve and raise their profiles nationally and internationally.

World’s most violent cities
are in Latin America,
South Africa and the USA13 May 2016: Latin America's cities are the most dangerous in the world. Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty are the main causes of the continent’s extreme urban violence. Residents of cities in Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are particularly at risk of being caught up in battles between warring gangs. Outside Latin America, US cities like St Louis and Baltimore as well as the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg have also witnessed an increased number of homicides.

With almost 4,000 murders in 2015, the Venezuelan capital Caracas is the most violent city in the world. San Pedro Sula (Honduras), which occupied the top spot in 2014, drops one place, while San Salvador (El Salvador) moves up from 27th to 3rd place. Overall, out of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 41 are located in Latin America. Four (St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans) are from the US. The South African cities of Cape Town, Durban, Nelson Mandela Bay and Johannesburg complete the top 50.

Violent deaths in Venezuela may actually be considerably higher. Extrajudicial killings by the police and indeed any deaths involving police shootouts are not included in the government's homicide count for 2016, which also excludes deaths of unknown intent. The NGOs Venezuelan Violence Observatory and Human Rights Watch allege that attempts by the police to break down powerful gangs have led to extrajudicial killings and a steady stream of complaints about human rights abuses. Analysts from Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights also suggest that criminal gangs may have become more organised and ruthless in the face of repressing policing.

While violence in Venezuela’s urban areas has increased considerably in recent years, some Latin American cities have been able to reduce violent crime. Belo Horizonte (Brazil); Medellin and Cucuta (Colombia); Chihuahua, Cuernavaca, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Torreon (Mexico) are no longer among the 50 most violent cities in the world. The success of Juarez on the US-Mexican border is particularly remarkable. Featured in the documentary ‘8 Murders a Day’, the city, which between 2008 and 2010 became infamous as the murder capital of the world and whose annual murder rate per 100,000 residents regularly surpassed 220, is now considered a relatively safe city which is attracting increasing numbers of tourists.

The 50 most violent
cities in the world

Rank (2014 rankings in brackets)

City

Country

No of homicides

City population

Murder rate (HTIs*)

1 (2)

Caracas

Venezuela

3,946

3,292,000

120

2 (1)

San Pedro Sula

Honduras

885

797,000

111

3 (27)

San Salvador

El Salvador

1,918

1,767,000

109

4 (3)

Acapulco

Mexico

903

862,000

105

5 (-)

Maturín

Venezuela

505

584,000

86

6 (6)

Distrito Central

Honduras

882

1,200,000

74

7 (50)

Valencia

Venezuela

1,125

1,556,000

72

8 (11)

Palmira

Colombia

216

305,000

71

9 (20)

Cape Town

South Africa

2,451

3,740,000

66

10 (4)

Cali

Colombia

1,523

2,370,000

64

11 (17)

Ciudad Guayana

Venezuela

547

878,000

62

12 (7)

Fortaleza

Brazil

2,422

3,985,000

61

13 (12)

Natal

Brazil

921

1,518,000

61

14 (13)

Salvador

Brazil

1,996

3,292,000

61

15 (45)

St Louis

USA

188

317,000

59

16 (9)

João Pessoa

Brazil

643

1,101,000

58

17 (16)

Culiacán

Mexico

518

924,000

56

18 (5)

Maceió

Brazil

564

1,014,000

56

19 (36)

Baltimore

USA

343

624,000

55

20 (10)

Barquisimeto

Venezuela

719

1,308,000

55

21 (15)

São Luís

Brazil

802

1,512,000

53

22 (29)

Cuiabá

Brazil

412

849,000

49

23 (31)

Manaus

Brazil

985

2,058,000

48

24 (-)

Cumaná

Venezuela

199

417,000

48

25 (8)

Guatemala City

Guatemala

1,528

3,239,000

47

26 (23)

Belém

Brazil

1,101

2,402,000

46

27 (-)

Feira de Santana

Brazil

281

618,000

45

28 (24)

Detroit

USA

295

672,000

44

29 (-)

Aparecida (Goiânia)

Brazil

847

1,953,000

43

30 (-)

Teresina

Brazil

360

844,000

41

31 (14)

Vitoria

Brazil

802

1,910,000

42

32 (26)

New Orleans

USA

164

395,710

41

33 (19)

Kingston

Jamaica

492

1,196,000

41

34 (-)

Gran Barcelona

Venezuela

334

833,000

40

35 (47)

Tijuana

Mexico

668

1,709,000

39

36 (14)

Vitória da Conquista

Brazil

132

343,000

38

37 (39)

Recife

Brazil

1,492

3,914,000

38

38 (46)

Aracaju

Brazil

349

926,000

38

39 (-)

Campos dos Goytacazes

Brazil

175

484,000

36

40 (25)

Campina Grande

Brazil

146

405,000

36

41 (48)

Durban

South Africa

1,237

3,442,000

36

42 (41)

Nelson Mandela Bay

South Africa

413

1,152,000

36

43 (-)

Porto Alegre

Brazil

1,479

4,259,000

35

44 (-)

Curitiba

Brazil

1,121

3,230,000

35

45 (34)

Pereira

Colombia

153

470,000

33

46 (22)

Victoria

Mexico

107

351,000

31

47 (-)

Johannesburg

South Africa

1,344

4,435,000

30

48 (40)

Macapá

Brazil

138

456,000

30

49 (42)

Maracaibo

Venezuela

477

1,653,000

29

50 (-)

Obregón

Mexico

90

318,000

28

*The Mexican NGO Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Publica y la Justicia (CCSP) researches murder rates in the world. The rate of murder (homicidio doloso) is expressed as a figure per 100,000 inhabitants (of a city or country) in a year (abbreviated here as HTI): i.e. 50/100,000 or 50/HTI.